Wolf's Cry
by mygyps17
Summary: Bart is running, fast, because he's in grave danger; but then he hears a little girl's scream and he goes back for her. It's a trap and he knows it, but he has no choice because it was Jo'an's scream. He has to make sure she's safe. A Bart and Jo'an fic.


**A/N: **I know, I know, you guys want me to update You Make Daddy Sick, not post new stuff, but this is just my way of letting you know I haven't completely forgotten about you;) Don't worry, I _do _plan on finishing it. In the meantime, here's a bit of Jo'an-ness.

~~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~~

Bart Allen is running, and he's running fast. Why? Because he's in danger. Unfathomable danger. He won't survive if he's caught. He'll die.

"Help!"

Bart stops in his tracks. That was the cry of a child. And not just any child, a girl child. And not just any girl child either. That was Jo'an. His niece…sort of.

"Help me, please!"

Without wasting another second, Bart runs toward the sound of the screaming six year old. It's undoubtedly a trap. He's gonna get caught. He's gonna die; but what else can he do? What if she really needs him? He can't take that chance. He _won't _take that chance. Not with her.

Not even a full second later, Bart's knocked off of his feet. He lands on his back and can't get back up. He can't move at all in fact. He can't even breathe. There's solid weight on his gut and his arms are pinned down. He's no match.

It's the end. He's done for. He knew it was a trap. He _knew_ it. But he had to make sure she was safe. He _had_ to.

He closes his eyes, waiting for death to come.

"Happy Valentine's day, Bobo!" Jo'an practically sings as she plants a wet one on Bart's lips.

~~~{(O)(O)(O)}~~~

"Bobo, guess what today is!"

Bart barely looks over at his eight year old…whatever the heck Jo'an is to him. He's too busy crushing Victor on the newest Call of Duty, and Jo'an _should _be used to getting ignored while he's gaming. Plus, he already said hi to her. She was sitting at the table coloring in some pink hearts and…and….

Oh no. It's the day. The_ day_. Today's the day! The V-day!

Jo'an puckers her lips at him and Bart takes off, not even bothering to pause his game. He doesn't need to. There's a good chance he won't lose. He can run faster than Victor can mash the buttons on his controller.

But he _will_ die if he stays put.

"Bobo, get back here!" Jo'an demands as she chases him. They wizz around Victor's apartment only because Bart can't go too far. He's still playing the game with Victor, so he just pops in every nanosecond and presses the button that makes his character duck or shoot or run or whatever. Then he hops back up before Jo'an can catch him. It's the most dangerous version of Duck, Duck, Goose he's ever played in his life!

"Take that outside!" Victor yells absently. He's very much used to the Bojo show.

They ignore him.

He's used to that too.

Then it stops. It _completely_ stops. Bart runs around the apartment three times before he realizes that Jo'an's no longer chasing after him.

Suspicious.

Suddenly, there's a loud crash in Victor's bedroom.

"Help!" Jo'an screams.

It's a trap. Has to be. But he doesn't hesitate. He goes to her. And just like the two Valentine's days before this one, the air is knocked out of him and Jo'an's sitting on his chest, perfectly safe from harm.

Bart groans miserably. Why him?

"You two are gonna clean up my room," Victor announces from his doorway, taking in the giant mess his niece made in order to lure her Bobo into her trap.

Bart's eyes light up at the sound of the cyborg's voice. Victor! He's strong. He can get Jo'an off of him! He can save him from his imminent death!

"A little help here, man." Bart moans pathetically.

"Nope. If you're dumb enough to fall for that every year, then you deserve whatever Lane's gonna dish out." Victor answers, shaking his head at the younger man.

Bart let's his head fall back, resigning to his fate.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Bobo," Jo'an grins before laying one on him.

~~~{(O)(O)(O)}~~~

"Junior! What'd I tell you about messing with my make up?!" Lois glares at the huge mess her ten year old daughter made in the bathroom. Honestly, she would've expected this kind of stuff from her three years ago. She's too old for this.

"You said don't do it." Jo'an responds.

"So _why_ are you doing it?"

"Because I wanna be pretty like you, Mom."

Lois works her jaw from side to side. She hates it when Jo'an does this. Her and Smallville both. One second, she's mad at 'em and then they'll say something like _that _and she can't be mad anymore_. _It's not fair.

"Can you help me?" Jo'an pleads once it's obvious her mother isn't going to kill her.

Lois ignores the lipstick Jo'an's offering to her for about three seconds before snatching it up.

"Why do you need to look pretty today, Junior?" She asks while tilting her daughter's head so she can apply the lipstick.

"It's Valentine's Day."

"Right." _Duh, Lois. _"So, is there anybody special you're getting dolled up for?"

Please God don't let it be Winston, Lois thinks to herself. She really can't stand that little brat.

"Uh, yeah. Bobo." Jo'an answers as if her mother just asked the stupidest question in the world…because she kinda did.

Lois breathes a huge sigh of relief. Jo'an's little crush on Bozo is nothing new. And quite honestly it's a relief to hear that it's still in effect. She can't take anymore "new" right now anyway. New things like the fact that Jo'an just started calling her Mom instead of Mommy. That's new. Then there's the fact that she just got her first training bra last week.

Lois _can't_ take anymore new. She really can't. It just feels so sudden; like her baby's growing up too fast. It feels good to revel in some old; and that crush she has on her Bobo is as old as it gets. Like a metaphorical security blanket.

"More lipstick than that, Mom! It's gotta _show_ when I kiss him!" Jo'an declares when Lois claims to be finished.

Lois rolls her eyes and adds more lipstick. It looks absolutely ridiculous, but that's fine by her. She's not ready for her baby to wear make-up the correct way anyway. That would be another "new" to add to the list.

"Where's my favorite niece!" A voice shouts from downstairs.

Both Lois and Jo'an recognize it as Oliver's immediately; and Jo'an's downstairs before her mother can roll her eyes.

"Did you bring him, Uncle Ollie? Did you?"

Oliver laughs at his niece. She's looks adorably ridiculous with the absurd amount of red lipstick painted across her lips.

Jo'an ignores the laughing. She hasn't gotten an answer to her question yet but she doesn't need the verbal confirmation from her uncle. She just heard Bart outside.

She runs out the door, ignoring Oliver's playful, "What, no kiss for Uncle Ollie?" She'll kiss him later. Bobo's got to be the first, so his kiss can be the freshest and reddest.

She spots him immediately. He's grabbing bags out of the trunk of her uncle's car. There's gonna be a party at her house tonight and Oliver brought the chips and drinks.

"Hey Bobo!" Jo'an calls enthusiastically,

Bart looks over at Jo'an and quirks an eyebrow at her. "What's with all the lipstick, Jojo?"

"It's so it can show when I kiss you, silly." She answers immediately.

Bart frowns. "Show when you kiss me? Why are you gonna…"

Crap! It's the day, Bart realizes. How is it he forgets this day every year?!

He drops the bags of 2 liters he'd just grabbed and takes off; and just like every year prior to this one, he hears a scream. Jo'an's scream.

He turns midstride and heads toward Jo'an's voice. A mere second later, he's knocked onto his back and pinned to the ground. It's a bittersweet kind of relief. At least he knows she's okay. But at the same time he's about to die.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Bob." Jo'an grins and Bart has no choice but to lay there and watch in absolute horror as her lips inch toward his.

He lets out a small whine of protest. They're so….so…. _red_.

~~~{(O)(O)(O)}~~~

It's Valentine's Day. Bart knows it. It only took him six years to commit this day to memory. He even set a reminder on his phone.

He's got a plan.

He rings the bell and whaits for the voice on the intercom. Normally, he'd just zip past the security guards but he's being polite today. He figures Tess Mercer will be more inclined to hide him away in the Luthor mansion if he can show he has manners.

That's right. His plan is to hide from Jo'an all day and this, the Luthor mansion, is the last place the twelve year old will think to look for him. He's sure of it. In fact, _no one_ will think to look for him here because no one in their right mind would assume Bart's decided to spend the day with a Luthor, even if she is the mildest form of evil in the family.

"Bart?"

"Good morning, Tess!" He calls back brightly to the voice over the intercom.

"What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?" Bart asks, choosing to ignore the question

There's no answer for a long time, and then the gates are opened.

Bart zips inside, not wanting to be outside and exposed to the world any longer. He's face to face with Tess Mercer not even a second later.

"Hide me." He begs.

Tess blinks a few times. Bart Allen is never serious, and he never asks her for help. What the hell is going on?

"Hide you from what?" she frowns. What, not who, because it's undoubtedly a what that's got the man on edge. No "who's" would be able to catch him. None except for Clark and Lane.

That's when Tess realizes what's going on. It's Valentine's Day. Bart wants her to hide him from a twelve year old girl little girl.

Tess rolls her eyes. She thought it was an emergency. "You want me to hide you from Lane." She states.

"Yeah, and don't tell her I'm here, no matter what!"

Tess bristles a little at being told what to do, but she doesn't say anything because she knows Bart doesn't mean anything by it. He's really making too big of a deal out of this. Honestly he should just kiss the child and be done with it. In fact…

"Fine. I won't tell her where you are. You have my word." Tess tells him.

"Thank you." Bart practically gushes and before Tess can tell him to make himself at home, he's zipped off to the kitchen and is going through her refrigerator.

Tess texts a brief message to Jo'an, suggesting to the younger Lane a way to lure her Bobo out of hiding. She makes sure not to tell Jo'an where Bart is. She did give him her word after all.

Halfway through a sandwich the size of Canada Bart's phone rings. He answers without looking at the collar ID.

Huge mistake.

"Bobo, help me!" A voice screams on the other line.

"Where are you?" He answer immediately and before Jo'an can finish giving him her location, which happens to be at AC's place in Miami, Bart's there to make sure she's okay.

She's more than okay.

He's pinned down within seconds. "Happy Valentine's Day." She smiles before planting a kiss on his cheek.

~~~{(O)(O)(O)}~~~

Today's Valentine's day and Bart's huge plan for today is to sleep in. After that he'll wing it. There's no need for him to run around and hide from his niece. Jo'an's starting to grow out of the whole chasing him around thing. He can tell. She nearly forgot last year and only chased him around when he mentioned it.

What a relief that was.

Plus he _finally_ got married last year. It's about time really. He'd been courting Lucy Lane since Jo'an was six years old. Well, he'd been trying to anyway. Lucy didn't really give him the time of day until Jo'an was about eleven. Then she finally gave him a chance and they dated for a year before being engaged for another year.

Suddenly, there's a loud knock on the door.

"Go answer it," his wife groans while giving him a push to his shoulder.

She's not much of a morning person either. One of the few things they have in common.

Bart gets up slowly and makes his way down the hall, slowly. He may be the fastest man alive, but it's too early in the morning for zipping and zooming.

He opens the door just as there's another loud insistent knock. Suddenly he's wide awake.

It's Jo'an!

He slams the door shut in her face and runs into his bedroom. "It's Jo'an. Jo'an's here!" He hisses at his wife.

She groans out an incoherent response.

That's no help.

He goes over to her and shakes her shoulders demandingly.

"What?" she grunts while simultaneously burying her face into her pillow even more.

"Jo'an's here!" he hisses once again.

Lucy sits up slowly, an aggravated scowl plastered on her face. She glances at the radio clock on the nightstand noting that it's not even seven in the morning yet.

Just peachy.

She takes a deep breath and answers her panicking husband. "It's Valentine's Day, Bart. Just go kiss my niece and get it over with so we can go back to sleep."

Bart's eyes widen. "Traitor!" he hisses at his wife. How could she do this to him?

Lucy rolls her eyes. Before plopping back down, trying to go back to sleep.

Just then there's a piercing scream outside his door.

Lucy responds by burying her head under her pillow. Bart responds by running to his niece's aid.

Of course it's a trap. Of course Jo'an knocks him onto his back. Of course she says "Happy Valentine's Day," before giving him a brief kiss on his cheek. He knew that would happen. It _always_ happens.

Still, he had to make sure she was safe.

~~~{(O)(O)(O)}~~~

Jo'an pins her Bobo down and shakes her head. She doesn't get it. She's sixteen years old. She's been tricking him for ten years now. How is it that he hasn't caught on yet?

"If you're gonna do it, just do it, get it over with." He whines.

Jo'an crosses her arms over her chest. She's not letting him up just yet. He's got some explaining to do.

"Why do you always come back for me? You know it's a trick." She asks with narrowed eyes.

Clark bursts into the barn, looking for his daughter. He could've sworn he just heard her scream. Then he smiles at the scene before him. "She gotcha again huh?" he asks the man being held down by his daughter.

"Yeah, a little help?" Bart begs.

Clark shakes his head. "Sorry." He apologizes. He doesn't have the time to wrestle Jo'an off of Bart. Lois is waiting for him in the house.

"Why is it that no one wants to help me?" Bart complains once Clark leaves.

Jo'an shrugs, and then her voice goes soft. She's being serious. "Seriously, Uncle Bobo. Why do you always come back if you know I'm just tricking ya?"

Bart sighs. "You know the story about boy who cried wolf?"

"Yeah."

"What's the moral of the story?"

"That if you lie too much about the same thing over and over again no one's gonna believe you when you're really in trouble." Jo'an answers, immediately picking up on the parallels between that story and what's been happening every Valentine's day for the past ten years.

"That's right; because eventually the wolf did come and no one believed the boy." Bart explains. "I guess I just want you to know that I'll _always_ come."

Jo'an's not much of a crier. Lanes don't cry; but she can feel a tear come to her eyes. He must love her very much. "I love you too Uncle Bobo." She tells him.

"That's great Jojo, but can you get off of me? I can't breathe."

"Not yet." She leans over and kisses Bart on the cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day." She grins.


End file.
